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Esteban
What's the difference between: "Have you ever...?" and "Do you ever...?"
The use of "ever" in the second one sounds odd for me. I don't really know if they're different.
I'd appreciate your help :).
28 de ago de 2018 05:12
Respostas · 2
5
It isn't odd at all! The word "ever" means "at any time". It's just the flip side of "never". And, just like "never", you can use "ever" in any tense you want.
Students of English tend to associate "ever" just with the present perfect because they've had most exposure to it with that tense. Grammar books are full of examples of "Have you ever...?" and are generally quite short on examples with other constructions. But in fact in the real world, we use it with a variety of tenses.
"Do you ever play tennis?" is not unlike saying "Do you sometimes play tennis?" ( but far more common and natural). It enables the answerer to reply "Yes, often" or "Yes, occasionally" or "No, never". This, essentially is the function of "ever" - it's an open question which also includes the possibility of "never".
So while "Have you ever..?' (present perfect) refers to your past experiences up to now, "Do you ever...?" (present simple) refers to your current habits and routines. Likewise, "Did you ever...?" refers to actions during a past period - for example, "Did you ever play tennis when you were at college?".
You can also use "ever" in the future, of course. Imagine a sad parting of two people, with one saying to the other "Will I ever see you again?". Or in the conditional "Would you ever tell a lie to protect your best friend?".
As you can see, "ever' is a very useful adverb - it's not just for the present perfect!
28 de agosto de 2018
2
"Have you ever" is used to ask about an experience in the past. For example:
"Have you ever been to Spain?" is asking about the person's past experience. "Have" + "past participle of the verb" forms the present perfect tense, which refers to the resent past or experiences.
"Do you ever" is used to ask about the things people do by habit or on occasion. For example:
"Do you ever sing in the shower?" (Do you have a habit of singing in the shower/Do you sometimes sing in the shower?)
Does this make sense? For a quick overview of what I explained:
"have you ever" = experience
"do you ever" = habit
28 de agosto de 2018
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Esteban
Habilidades linguísticas
Inglês, Espanhol
Idioma de aprendizado
Inglês
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